Friday, November 03, 2006

Gideon's spies: the secret history of the Mossad by Gordon Thomas is an often confusing look at the history of the Israeli intelligence service from its beginnings before the formation of Israel to the late 1990s. It's confusing mainly because there is no direct narrative line we are constantly bouncing around the last 50 years of intelligence work. All the big stories are here including the kidnapping of Adolf Eichmann and the various operations against Palestinian terrorists. There is some lesser-known stories such as the sex trap used to corral and attempted leaking of Israeli nuclear secrets.

The material itself is interesting it is just not organized at all which makes an aggravating book to read cover to cover. It's almost like the author had ADD or something.

Recommended if you must have everything on Israeli intelligence or just need to look up a certain event.